Wampanoag

The Wampanoag are a Native American tribe indigenous to southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. At the time of European contact in the 17th century, the Wampanoag had a large population due to the richness of the environment and their cultivation of corn, beans, and squash. From 1615 to 1619, the Wampanoag suffered from a smallpox epidemic, decimating their population. This allowed for the English colonists to establish their colonies more quickly, and, from 1675 to 1676, King Philip's War led to the deaths of 40% of the surviving tribe. Many male Wampanoag were sold into slavery in Bermuda or the Caribbean, and some women and children were enslaved in New England. The Wampanoag continued to exist under colonial and American rule, and there are over 2,000 Wampanoag as of the 2010s. Their language died out during the early 1900s, but there were efforts to revive their language after 1993.